Golf Tee

ABSTRACT

A golf tee contains a fixing nail, a spring, a plurality of fitting loops, a seat, and a cap. The fixing nail has a holding portion, the holding portion has a notch, and the notch communicates with a first groove. The spring is retained in the notch and has a retaining portion. Each fitting loop has a hole so as to fit the fitting loop with the spring, and the hole has a second groove. The each fitting loop also has an engaging portion, such that the engaging portion is retained in the second groove, an engaging portion of a lowermost fitting loop is fixed in the first groove of the fixing nail. The seat has a protrusion and a placing portion so as to hold golf. The seat has an orifice for inserting the spring and receiving the retaining portion. Also, the cap is covered on the orifice.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a golf tee which is simplified and produced easily at lower cost.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Taiwan Publication No. 494785 discloses that a conventional golf tee includes a fixing nail, a holder, and a resilient element between the fixing nail and the holder. The fixing nail is conical and has a three-stepped seat, and the holder has a five-stepped channel. The resilient element has a first spring, a peg, an elastic first sleeve, a second spring, a second sleeve, a retaining ring, and a third sleeve, such that the first spring is fixed in the three-stepped seat. The first spring and the peg are secured on the channel, and the retaining ring slides on the three-stepped seat. However, such a conventional golf tee is complicated and produced at high cost. In addition, the first spring bends unnaturally, thus shortening a service life of the first spring. Also, when pulling the fixing nail out of the ground, the first spring disengages from the fixing nail easily.

TW Publication No. 1329523 discloses that a conventional golf tee contains an upper shaft portion, and the upper shaft portion has a nail for inserting into the ground, and a holder is fixed under the support portion. The nail is inserted into an orifice of the holder, and a plurality of pads are defined between the holder and the supporting portion so as to move the holder on the nail, thus adjusting a hitting height of golf. Nevertheless, when hitting the golf on the golf tee, the nail is broken or disengages from the ground easily.

Another conventional golf tee is taught in TW Publication No. M383431 and has a fixing rod, a resilient shaft, a plurality of coupling sleeves, and a connector, wherein the resilient shaft is made of a flexible T-bar and has plural coupling sleeves, wherein the connector is connected on the fixing rod. But as hitting golf, the resilient shaft is broken easily.

The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a golf tee which is simplified and produced easily at lower cost.

To obtain the above objective, a golf tee provided by the present invention contains: a fixing nail, a spring, a plurality of fitting loops, a seat, and a cap.

The fixing nail has a holding portion, the holding portion has a notch, and the notch communicates with a first groove. The spring is retained in the notch and has a retaining portion. Each fitting loop has a hole so as to fit the fitting loop with the spring, and the hole has a second groove. The each fitting loop also has an engaging portion, such that the engaging portion is retained in the second groove, an engaging portion of a lowermost fitting loop is fixed in the first groove of the fixing nail. The seat has a protrusion and a placing portion so as to hold golf. The seat has an orifice for inserting the spring and receiving the retaining portion. Also, the cap is covered on the orifice.

Thereby, the plurality of fitting loops are provided to limit and control the swinging of the spring so that the spring is limited by the plurality of fitting loops to deform evenly, thus prolonging service life of the spring and preventing the spring from disengagement from the fixing nail.

In addition, the engaging portion is retained in the second groove, and the engaging portion of the lowermost fitting loop is fixed in the first groove of the fixing nail, the protrusion is retained in the second groove of the uppermost fitting loop, so when the golf tee is inserted into the ground, central axes of the fixing nail, the spring, the plurality of fitting loops, the seat, and the cap maintain on a same shaft line without offset, thus inserting the fixing nail on the ground easily.

Also, a length of the spring and a number of the plurality of fitting loops are capable of being increased or decreased, thus assembling the golf tee with a varying height.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the exploded components of a golf tee according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the assembly of the golf tee according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view showing the assembly of the golf tee according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view showing the operation of the golf tee according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the assembly of the golf tee according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to FIGS. 1-3, a golf tee according to a first embodiment of the present invention contains a fixing nail 10, a spring 20, a plurality of fitting loops 30, a seat 40, and a cap 50. The fixing nail 10 has a holding portion 11 disposed on an upper end thereof, the holding portion 11 has a notch 12, and the notch 12 communicates with a first groove 13 having a diameter larger than the notch 12. The spring 20 is retained in the notch 12 and has a retaining portion 21 formed in a trumpet shape and arranged on an upper end thereof. Each fitting loop 30 has a hole 31 so as to fit the each fitting loop 30 with the spring 20, and the hole 31 has a second groove 32 with a diameter larger than the hole 31, the second groove 32 is defined on an upper end of the hole 31. The each fitting loop 30 also has an engaging portion 33 defined on a bottom end thereof and has an outer diameter smaller than the each fitting loop 30, such that the engaging portion 33 is retained in the second groove 32, wherein a lower end of the engaging portion 33 is conical, and an engaging portion 33 of a lowermost fitting loop 30 is fixed in the first groove 13 of the fixing nail 10.

It is to be noted that the each fitting loop 30 has a varying color so that the plurality of fitting loops 30 are fitted together to have a color varying appearance.

The seat 40 has a protrusion 41 formed on a bottom end thereof and retained in a second groove 32 of an uppermost fitting loop 30 and has a placing portion 42 arranged on a top end thereof so as to hold a golf 60, and a lower end of the protrusion 41 is conical. The placing portion 42 has plural support ribs 43 extending outwardly from a top surface thereof such that the golf 60 is placed on the plurality of plural support ribs 43. The seat 40 also has an orifice 44 defined therein so as to insert the spring 20 and to receive the retaining portion 21. The orifice 44 has a raised rim 45 formed around an inner wall thereof. The cap 50 is covered on the orifice 44 and has a raised portion 51 extending around an outer peripheral side thereof and has a recess 52 defined on a bottom end thereof so as to receive an upper end of the spring 20.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, in operation, when the golf club hits the seat 40, the seat 40 drives the upper end of the spring 20 to swing toward one side, and then the plurality of the fitting loops 30 swing toward one side with a swinging of the spring 20. Thereafter, the spring 20 and the plurality of fitting loops 30 swing back to an original position by using an elasticity of the spring 20.

Referring further to FIG. 5, a difference of a golf tee of a second embodiment of the present invention from that of the first embodiment contains: a placing portion 42 integrally formed on a top surface of a seat 40 and having plural bosses 46 surrounding around the placing portion 42 so as to place golf 60.

Thereby, the golf tee is simplified and produced easily at lower cost.

Also, the plurality of fitting loops 30 are provided to limit and control the swinging of the spring 20 so that the spring 20 is limited by the plurality of fitting loops 30 to deform evenly, thus prolonging service life of the spring 20 and preventing the spring 20 from disengagement from the fixing nail 10.

In addition, the engaging portion 33 is retained in the second groove 32, and the engaging portion 33 of the lowermost fitting loop 30 is fixed in the first groove 13 of the fixing nail 10, the protrusion 41 is retained in the second groove 32 of the uppermost fitting loop 30, so when the golf tee is inserted into the ground, central axes of the fixing nail 10, the spring 20, the plurality of fitting loops 30, the seat 40, and the cap 50 maintain on a same shaft line without offset, thus inserting the fixing nail 10 on the ground easily.

Also, a length of the spring 20 and a number of the plurality of fitting loops 30 are capable of being increased or decreased, thus assembling the golf tee with a varying height.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A golf tee comprising: a fixing nail having a holding portion disposed on an upper end thereof, the holding portion having a notch, and the notch communicating with a first groove having a diameter larger than the notch; a spring retained in the notch and having a retaining portion formed in a trumpet shape and arranged on an upper end thereof; a plurality of fitting loops, each having a hole so as to fit teach fitting loop with the spring, and the hole having a second groove with a diameter larger than the hole, the second groove being defined on an upper end of the hole, the each fitting loop also having an engaging portion defined on a bottom end thereof and having an outer diameter smaller than the each fitting loop, such that an engaging portion of a lowermost fitting loop is fixed in the first groove of the fixing nail; a seat having a protrusion formed on a bottom end thereof and retained in a second groove of an uppermost fitting loop and having a placing portion arranged on a top end thereof so as to hold golf, and the seat also having an orifice defined therein so as to insert the spring and to receive the retaining portion; a cap covered on the orifice.
 2. The golf tee as claimed in claim 1, wherein the orifice has a raised rim formed around an inner wall thereof, and the cap has a raised portion extending around an outer peripheral side thereof.
 3. The golf tee as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cap has a recess defined on a bottom end thereof so as to receive an upper end of the spring.
 4. The golf tee as claimed in claim 1, wherein the each fitting loop also has an engaging portion defined on a bottom end thereof, and a lower end of the engaging portion is conical.
 5. The golf tee as claimed in claim 1, wherein a lower end of the protrusion is conical.
 6. The golf tee as claimed in claim 1, wherein the each fitting loop has a varying color. 